The Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (10) and Keegan Murray forward (13) with the Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama battle for the basketball at the FedEx Arena in Memphis on Mon Jan 29, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Sacramento Kings (27-18) had a horrendous start in Monday night’s game in Memphis. They did not take the lead once until the second half mid-way through the third quarter. They had 19 turnovers something that we don’t see from this squad very often. 

The Kings were able to pull this one off with improved play in the fourth quarter winning their fourth game in a row 103-94 to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies (18-29)

Sacramento had a terrible start in the first quarter trailing after the first 12 minutes 33-18. The Kings started to turn their game around in the second quarter. The biggest problem for Sacramento were the 12 turnovers. 

This Kings averages 13 turnovers in an entire game so they had a lot of trouble protecting the ball in the first half of this game. At the half the Kings trailed 50-47 so this game had become a one shot game. 

Sacramento had trailed by as much as 14 points in the first quarter and they had not led once in the first half. The good news for the Kings was the improved play in the later minutes of the second quarter. Domantas Sabonis had a terrific first half finishing with 12 points and 16 rebounds.

At 6:22 in the third quarter the Kings took their first lead of the game 64-62. Harrison Barnes hit his first three of the game to give them that lead and followed it up with a back-to-back three. After three quarters, the Kings led 75-71. 

They won the third quarter 28-21 and had really put the stops on the turnovers only committing one in the quarter. Sabonis continued to rack up those rebounds with 23 going into the fourth quarter.

The Grizzlies continued to hang in this game taking back the lead in the early minutes of the fourth quarter 78-77. Memphis was wearing a path to the free throw line. The Kings already had 17 fouls and they began to turn the ball over again in the fourth quarter with 18 mid-way threw the final quarter. 

The Kings were scoring most of their points in the paint struggling from downtown and with 7:03 left in the game the score was tied at 85. The Kings had a very poor start but a strong finish winning this game 103-94 for their fourth win in a row.  The Grizzlies pushed the Kings to their limits but Sacramento got it together in the final minutes of the game.

This was not the Kings finest hour but they played just well enough to win the game. Sabonis finished with 20 points and 26 rebounds. Fox had the high for the team with 23 points. It was a terrible start for the team with poor shooting, too many fouls and 19 turnovers but they were able to overcome all of it and come away with a win. That alone speaks to the strength and will-power of this team. 

Post game notes: The Kings started off the week on the road in Memphis taking on the Grizzlies Monday night. The Kings were coming off a couple of solid wins over the Golden State Warriors and last Saturday night they beat the Dallas Mavericks 120-115. The Grizzlies lost to the Pacers yesterday 116-110 and lost the second on back to back nights this time to the Kings.

Wednesday night the Kings will travel to Miami taking on the (24-23) Heat. Sacramento has a lot to clean up going into Miami looking for their fifth win in a row. Tipoff for this game is scheduled for 4:30 PM.